The claim still found its way into Bush's annual state of the union address a year later, prompting Wilson to stew for six months before unleashing the Times article, in which he warned top US officials may have ignored data which contradicted the case for war.
On July 7, 2003, the White House admitted the Niger claim rested on flawed intelligence, and should not have been in the speech.
Newspaper columnist Robert Novak then reported that "two senior administration officials" told him that Plame was a CIA operative and had suggested Wilson's mission.
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